You make sure I always see the daylight

She could tell that Alastor didn't really want to leave–no, maybe want was the wrong word. It felt like he didn't think he could leave or that he shouldn't, but that's why she was here. Even though she didn't know exactly what was going on in his head behind those dark, distant eyes she knew it was nothing good and sitting here watching the body of his former lover burn wasn't going to help. Once he stood she did as well and she led him away from the fire, putting it behind them as she started to walk toward their den. She didn't take the most direct route, keeping to his side as they walked past the lake where they had spent so many days together and with their children and then up through the mountain paths that wound their way up the jagged landscape. Occasionally she would let her shoulder or tail or side brush lightly against him as they walked, giving him small reminders in her own way that she was here, that she wasn't going anywhere, that he was still here with her. After all of their years together she knew better what he needed and what he responded to no matter how unpredictable his mind could be and she knew that sometimes a bit of physical touch went a long way.

When they reached their den she didn't stop until she had brought him all the way back to their bedroom. Even though their nest was completely empty and she didn't have to worry about their children coming home and seeing them laying in the middle of the common area any more, she still felt like she wanted to give Alastor that little extra bit of privacy for a while longer. She took him to their bed and gently nudged him down onto the plush furs and pushed him onto his back before laying down across him, draping her lithe from along his as she had so many times before. She had no real intentions of doing anything more than laying with him unless he desired it, but she essentially made herself into a weighted blanket for him. Keeping him in the present, reminding him of where he was and that she was here for him. That was the name of the game for her right now. She sat up just enough to be able to look down at his handsome face and let her paws pet over the top of his head and ears, down along his cheeks and the back of his neck, before cycling back and starting the path again, the toes of her feline paws curling and massaging around his ears tenderly.

She sighed softly and tipped her muzzle to press a gentle kiss to the end of his nose. "My love... My sweet, caring demon... I know you're blaming yourself for this. I can see it in your face, in those handsome eyes of yours." She rested her paws on his cheeks for a moment, tracing along the bottom edge of the red marking that underlined his eyes before she continued to circuit of slow, gentle affections. "I know you won't believe me right now, but this isn't your fault. You gave her so much. There is nothing else you could have given her... not without uprooting and abandoning me and your family," she told him quietly. It was a harsh truth, maybe harsher than he wanted to hear right now, but she almost felt like it had to be said to put things into perspective. There had been so many times when his relationship with Relm had caused strife and tension in their relationship and that alone–at least in her eyes–felt like a sign that he had given her more than he probably ever should have. Still, he had lost someone very dear and important to him in a way that was difficult to process even for her so she would never say that his grief wasn't valid–but the blame and loathing was not. "I want you to grieve for as long as you need to grieve. I'm not saying that this isn't a terrible loss, but I can feel this heaviness and darkness swirling in this head of yours and I refuse to lose you to it."

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"